The California Assembly Committee on Elections and Redistricting has introduced three bills in 2013 to affect the state’s elections laws. Assembly Bill 1417 would conform state law to federal law by requiring elections officials to send ballots and ballot materials to all military and overseas voters by the 45th day before the election if they have made a request for a ballot by that day, regardless of whether the 45th day before the election is a weekend or holiday and would make various minor and technical changes to the Elections Code. Assembly Bill 1418 would repeal the campaign statement requirement regarding public inspection and reproduction, and would make other minor technical changes to the Political Reform Act of 1974 (PRA). Assembly Bill 1419 would establish a process for a political body to qualify as a political party for the purposes of having that party’s Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates appear on the presidential general election ballot.
AB 1417 is one of the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee’s omnibus bills, intended to accomplish the following:
- Update and replaces the term “special absentee voter” with “military and overseas voter.”
- Conform state law to federal law by requiring elections officials to send ballots and ballot materials to all military and overseas voters by the 45th day before the election if they have made a request for a ballot by that day, regardless of whether the 45th day before the election is a weekend or holiday.
- Require the SOS [Secretary of State], not less than 73 days, and not more than 90 days before a general election, to notify each candidate for partisan and voter nominated office of the names, addresses, offices, ballot designations, and party preferences of all other persons whose names are to appear on the ballot for the same office at the general election.
- Repeal a requirement that county elections officials prepare and post a list of names of candidates for delegates for each political party prior to each presidential primary.
- Repeal a limitation that the SOS, for the purpose of assistance in examining a voting system, may employ not more than three expert electronic technicians at a cost to be set by the SOS, and instead specifies that the SOS may employ expert electronic technicians or technician firms.
The changes proposed by AB 1418 to public inspection and reproduction arose because, according to the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee, when it was first enacted, the PRA required statewide office holders, candidates for statewide office, and certain other statewide campaign committees to file a copy of all campaign reports with the Registrars of Voters in Los Angeles and San Francisco counties. To ensure that voters had access to these campaign reports immediately before an election, the PRA later was amended to require the offices of the SOS and of the Registrars of Voters in Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco counties to be open for public inspection and reproduction of campaign statements from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on the Saturday preceding a statewide primary or statewide general election. Since that time, the Legislature has taken a number of steps to make these campaign reports more publicly accessible, including setting up an online campaign disclosure database, requiring most candidates and committees active in campaigns for state office to file campaign disclosure reports electronically, and requiring the SOS to make other specified reports available online even when those reports are not required to be filed electronically. Given the increased availability of campaign reports online, the SOS and counties have reported that it is uncommon for the public to come to their offices on the Saturday before a statewide election to view or obtain copies of campaign statements. In fact, the SOS asserted that no member of the public has visited that office during these hours for the last several election cycles. In 1985, the state’s laws governing the state civil service Personnel Classification Plan were reorganized, and a number of code sections were renumbered. However, a section of the PRA that cross-references those laws was never updated. AB 1418 also corrects that outdated cross-reference.
AB 1419 addresses existing law which requires a political body to qualify as a political party 135 days before the primary election if it wishes to place candidates on the ballot, even if the party only wants to participate in the presidential general election. Because California currently holds its primary elections in June, this policy effectively requires a political body to meet the qualification threshold by January in order to have its Presidential candidate appear on the general election ballot. Last year, two political bodies that were attempting to qualify as political parties filed a lawsuit against the SOS challenging the deadline, alleging the early deadline violated their 1st and 14th Amendment rights. The U.S. District Court agreed, and enjoined the SOS from enforcing the requirement described above. The Court refused, however, to impose an alternative deadline. The Assembly Committee Elections and Redistricting Committee seeks to accomplish the following with passage of AB 1419:
- Provide that a political party is qualified to participate in a presidential general election if either of the following conditions is met: A) If, on or before the 102nd day before a presidential general election, it appears to the SOS, as a result of examining and totaling the statement of voters and their political affiliations transmitted to the SOS by county elections officials, that voters equal in number to at least 1% of the entire vote of the state at the last preceding gubernatorial election have declared their intention to affiliate with that party; or, B) If, on or before the 135th day before a presidential general election, there is filed with the SOS a petition signed by voters equal in number to 10% of the entire vote of the state at the last preceding gubernatorial election, declaring that they represent a proposed party, the name of which shall be stated in the petition, which proposed party those voters desire to have participate in the presidential general election.
- Require county elections officials to send a summary statement of the number of voters in the county to the SOS not less than 102 days prior to each presidential general election with respect to voters registered before the 123rd day before the presidential general election.
- Require a group of electors that are attempting to qualify a new political party to indicate on a specified notice to the SOS whether those electors intend to qualify the party for the next primary election or the next presidential general election.
- Provide that a political party that qualifies pursuant to the above procedure to participate in a presidential general election does not have the ability to use the general election ballot for the purpose of electing state party or county central committee officers.
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